The present invention is directed to a system for breaking ribbon-shaped chips as they are formed during the removal of material from a workpiece with an automated turret lathe.
In the machining of various configured workpieces formed of a metal such as uranium and uranium alloys with machine tools such as a lathe, turnings or chips in the form of long spiral strips or ribbons of workpiece material are generated. These ribbon-shaped chips have a tendency to scrape or otherwise mar the machined surface of the workpiece if they are allowed to remain intact during the machining operation. The formation of these long ribbon-shaped chips when using conventional manually operated machine tools is not of any particular concern since the ribbon-shaped chips can be readily removed by the operator during their formation. However, when using computer programmed or other automated machine tools, especially when the machine tools are enclosed in a housing, access to the workpiece for breaking or removing the chips is restricted so as to present a problem with respect to the generation and removal of the ribbon-like chips.
Several techniques exist for removing the chips from the surface of the workpiece as material is being removed therefrom by the machine tool. For example, as noted above, with a manually operated and controlled machine tool the chips are merely retrieved from the workpiece surface by the operator. In other instances it has been found that a highly pressurized stream of machining coolant can be directed to the interface of the tool and workpiece for breaking the chips immediately after they are formed. The machining coolant also provides for the cooling and lubrication of the material removing tool and workpiece. It has been found that the pressure of the machining coolant required for this fracturing or breaking of the chips varies from metal to metal but can be readily provided in most machining operations without detracting from or otherwise hindering the machining operation. While the use of manual chip-breaking procedures and pressurized machining coolant streams have been used successfully in exposed, manually operated machine tool systems no satisfactory arrangement presently exists in the art which is capable of effectively breaking or removing ribbon-shaped chips in automated machine tools particularly automated rotary turret lathes which employ a plurality of tools during a typical programmed material removing operation while entirely enclosed within a housing.